39 



them in time to curl up, thicken, and perish. The 

 enemy is readily discovered, hving in numbers within 

 the litde hollow, red convexities that deform the leaves : 

 but it is not equally certain that these insects are the 

 cause of the sudden disease, which, like a pestilendal 

 miasm, pervades the foliage, rapidly changes its struc- 

 ture, suspends its vital functions, and causes it prema- 

 turely to wither and fall. In some instances that have 

 fallen under my own observation, no insects could be 

 discovered beneath the leaves ; and the symptoms of 

 disease were too recent and sudden in their appearance 

 to have originated from such a source. The means of 

 destroying Aphides are readily obtained and applied. 

 Solutions of soap, and weak alkaline hquors, used 

 warm, and thrown up by a garden engine, are the 

 proper remedies. 



Nor is it difficult to guard the peach-tree against the 

 borer, which attacks it near the root, or at that place 

 denominated the 7ieck, the most vital part of the tree. 

 More than six years ago the following means were 

 pointed out,* and success has uniformly attended their 

 use. Remove the earth around the neck of the tree, 

 crush or burn the cocoons and larvae exisdng there, 

 apply the common composition or wash for fruit-treeSy 

 and surround the trunk with a strip of sheathing-paper, 

 eight or nine inches wide, which should extend one or 

 two inches below the level of the soil, and be secured 

 with strings of matting above. Fresh mortar should 

 be placed around the root, so as to confine the paper 

 and prevent access beneath it, and the remaining cavity 

 may be filled with fresh loam. This plan, if pursued 



* New England Farmer, Vol. V. page 33. 



